DOCSLIB.ORG

Associations Between Pet Attachment, Attitudes to Animals, Compassion, and Humane Behaviour

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Associations Between Pet Attachment, Attitudes to Animals, Compassion, and Humane Behaviour International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health Article Childhood Attachment to Pets: Associations between Pet Attachment, Attitudes to Animals, Compassion, and Humane Behaviour Roxanne D. Hawkins 1,*, Joanne M. Williams 1 and Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Scottish SPCA) 2 1 Clinical and Health Psychology, School of Health in Social Science, University of Edinburgh, Medical School, Teviot Place, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, UK; [email protected] 2 Kingseat Road, Halbeath, Dunfermline KY11 8PQ, Fife, UK; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected] Academic Editor: Paul B. Tchounwou Received: 6 March 2017; Accepted: 24 April 2017; Published: 6 May 2017 Abstract: Attachment to pets has an important role in children’s social, emotional, and cognitive development, mental health, well-being, and quality of life. This study examined associations between childhood attachment to pets and caring and friendship behaviour, compassion, and attitudes towards animals. This study also examined socio-demographic differences, particularly pet ownership and pet type. A self-report survey of over one thousand 7 to 12 year-olds in Scotland, UK, revealed that the majority of children are strongly attached to their pets, but attachment scores differ depending on pet type and child gender. Analysis revealed that attachment to pets is facilitated by compassion and caring and pet-directed friendship behaviours and that attachment to pets significantly predicts positive attitudes towards animals. The findings have implications for the promotion of prosocial and humane behaviour. Encouraging children to participate in pet care behaviour may promote attachment between children and their pet, which in turn may have a range of positive outcomes for both children (such as reduced aggression, better well-being, and quality of life) and pets (such as humane treatment). This study enhances our understanding of childhood pet attachment and has implications for humane education and promoting secure emotional attachments in childhood. Keywords: attachment; attitudes; children; compassion; humane behaviour; pets 1. Introduction This study focuses on the under-researched topic of childhood attachment to pets. The aims are to examine socio-demographic differences in child-pet attachment such as age, gender, family affluence, and pet type, and to investigate associations between childhood attachment to pets and compassion, humane behaviour, and positive attitudes towards animals. This paper will begin with an overview of research on childhood attachment theory and examine why pets may create attachment opportunities for children. 1.1. Human Attachment and Attachment to Pets Children are biologically pre-programmed to form emotional attachments with human caregivers to enable their survival [1–4]. Attachment refers to the innate ability to form bonds of affection and love toward others [4] and plays a significant role in infancy and later in life. Infants seek proximity, physical contact, and emotional connection with main caregivers for psychological, emotional, and physical support and protection [5–8]. Children’s early attachments allow them to treat their main caregiver as a safe base or secure base from which they can gain comfort and nutrition and also Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2017, 14, 490; doi:10.3390/ijerph14050490 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2017, 14, 490 2 of 15 explore their environment [9]. These early experiences of human caring relationships create internal working models (IWMs) of emotional attachment that guide later human relationships. A secure attachment to human caregivers, typified by a synchronous relationship between child and caregiver, has a protective effect against psychopathology [10] and is related to empathy and prosocial behaviour development [11]. However, an insecure attachment to human caregivers can have long-term negative consequences for a child’s mental health, well-being, and behaviour and is a risk factor for anxiety disorders [12], delinquency [13], and animal cruelty [14]. Although human attachment research has been heavily influenced by ethological research and animal studies [1,15], the focus has been on a child’s emotional attachment to human caregivers and the subsequent impact this has on later human relationships and behaviour. Far less research has considered children’s attachments to pets and the importance of pet attachments for children’s development and their behaviour towards animals. There is growing evidence that animals are capable of offering features of a secure attachment relationship for children and that children can form emotional attachment with pets that are consistent in some respects with human attachment theory [16,17]. Pets may offer children aspects of emotional attachment such as an affectional bond, special friendship, and may meet the prerequisites for an attachment relationship in terms of proximity seeking/maintenance, safe-haven, secure base and separation distress, which are observed in human-human attachments [16–18]. Pets may act as supplementary attachment figures satisfying many attachment functions, but are unlikely to fulfil all functions of secure human attachment relationships that develop between children and their caregivers. For example, the observed distress of children following separation from pets may not be due to children feeling less safe in a pets’ absence [17] but rather because of their concerns about their pets’ welfare [19]. Pets satisfy the need for comport and reassurance, assistance, and protection [20]. Attachments to a pet dog may function as a secure base by providing security and stability from which children can explore their environment. Furthermore, dogs may help children to regulate their emotions because they can trigger and respond to a child’s attachment related behaviour [17–20]. Insecure IWM of human attachment (due to difficult early experiences) may be a risk factor later in human relationships. However, pets may offer a pathway towards re-establishing attachment security with others, as found in children in foster care [17]. Pets can facilitate the development of human attachment relationships [21–23] and can act as another attachment figure in the absence or disruption of human attachment relationships, such as parental divorce [24,25]. Attachment theory can also be viewed from the perspective of the caregiver’s role. In their relationships with pet animals, children’s role of caregiving [26,27] might foster an attachment system with a pet animal. This may be activated by a bias towards infantile features (the ‘baby schema’) typical of many pet breeds [28]. This bias is often viewed as a reactive-phylogenetically ancient mechanism [29,30] that facilitates a nurturing reaction such as caregiving and protective behaviour. This process supports the development of the human-pet bond including anthropomorphism and motherese (infant directed speech to the pet) [31–33]. This bias towards infantile features is strongest amongst pet owners that display a strong attachment to their pets [34]. Furthermore, attachment difficulties between pets and their owners are similar to insecure attachments observed between children and caregivers, such as anxiety, avoidance, and negative expectations [35]. It should be noted that the research on pets’ attachments to human caregivers is based on work with adults and their pets, rather than pets’ attachment to children. The evidence to date suggests that attachment to pets shares some features with human attachments [35,36] and children feel strong emotional connections to their pets [37]. There is also growing evidence that pet ownership and attachment to pets have a range of positive psychological, emotional, and physiological health outcomes for children and adults. These include: lower risk of depression [38], better quality of life [37,39], a greater sense of well-being [40], reduced psychological and physical distress, and reduced loneliness [24,41]. For example, attachment to dogs and cats is associated with higher quality of life among adolescents [39]. Other positive outcomes include Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2017, 14, 490 3 of 15 extended social networks [42,43], and increased happiness, security, and self-worth [44]. These results may explain why animal assisted interventions are increasingly demonstrating potential success as alternative therapies [45,46]. The psychological benefits of attachment to pets have been found for a variety of pet animals, particularly dogs [47] and cats [48], possibly relating to the caring activities required by pet dogs and cats [39]. Psychological benefits have also been observed for smaller pets such as birds and rabbits [49], yet very little research has examined attachment to different pet types. Given the potential benefits of emotional attachments to pets, it is a priority for research to examine what factors promote attachment to pets and how attachment to pets might be fostered. 1.2. Direct Contact with Animals and Attachment to Pets Direct contact with animals during childhood, such as caring for pets, may foster the development of attachment to pets. Caring for pet animals provides children with the experience of taking responsibility for another living being, may support the development of empathy, and has been shown to relate to more humane attitudes later in life [50]. Pets provide an opportunity for children to learn, practice, and become motivated to
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Introduction and Purpose Pets Provide Constant and Unconditional Love and Affection
    Introduction and Purpose Pets provide constant and unconditional love and affection (Brasic, 1998). Over 50% of households in the world have a pet (Bonas, 2000; Beck 1999; Fogle, 1983). There are more than 60 million pet dogs and nearly 70 million pet cats in the U.S. (AVMA, 2002). Pet owners often describe their pets as important and cherished family members who offer comfort in times of stress (Allen, 2003). In fact, pets can decrease anxiety and sympathetic nervous system arousal by providing a pleasing external focus for attention. This can often promote feelings of safety and provide a source of contact comfort. In return, people perceive pets as important, supportive parts of their lives. They provide companionship, decrease loneliness, decrease depression, provide a source of energy (Friedmann, Thomas, & Eddy, 2000), and promote an interesting and varied lifestyle, as well as an opportunity for nurturing (Allen, Blascovich, & Mendes, 2002; Odendaal, 2002). While the beneficial impact of pets on humans has been demonstrated, the role of human-pet attachment has not. Specifically, researchers have studied whether the presence of a pet in a family influences people, but research has not explored the extent to which the degree of attachment between the human and companion animal influences the benefits of having a pet. The present research was designed to develop a scale to measure the degree of attachment between a pet owner and his or her companion animal. In other words, the present study provides a measurement tool that will enable researchers to define human-animal attachment beyond the simple all-or-none definition used heretofore.
    [Show full text]
  • Australian Guidelines for the Treatment of Adults with Acute Stress Disorder and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
    AUSTRALIAN GUIDELINES FOR THE TREATMENT OF ADULTS WITH Acute Stress Disorder and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder The development of these guidelines has been generously supported by: Emergency Management Australia Department of Veterans’ Affairs Department of Defence © Australian Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health, 2007 ISBN Print: 978-0-9752246-9-4 ISBN Online: 978-0-9752246-6-3 This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission from the Australian Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health (ACPMH). Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed to the Australian Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health ([email protected]). Copies of the full guidelines, and brief guides for practitioners and the public are available online: http://www.acpmh.unimelb.edu.au http://www.nhmrc.gov.au The suggested citation for this document is: Australian Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health (2007). Australian Guidelines for the Treatment of Adults with Acute Stress Disorder and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. ACPMH, Melbourne, Victoria. Legal disclaimer This document is a general guide to appropriate practice, to be followed only subject to the practitioner’s judgement in each individual case. The guidelines are designed to provide information to assist decision making and are based on the best information available at the date of publication. In recognition of the pace of advances in the field, it is recommended that the guidelines be reviewed and updated in five years time. These guidelines were approved by the Chief Executive Officer of the National Health and Medical Research Council on 8 February 2007 under Section 14A of the National Health and Medical Research Council Act 1992.
    [Show full text]
  • Natural Affection: Natural Law Or Natural Selection, and Does It Matter? Louis W
    Natural Affection: Natural Law or Natural Selection, and Does It Matter? Louis W. Hensler III ©2017 Natural Affection’s Historical Significance A. In the Bible 1. Storge (“natural affection”) is one of several Greek words for “love,” but it is never used at all in the protestant Bible (either the Septuagint or the New Testament). It refers to the natural love that members of the same family have for each other. 2. Apocrypha a. Two minor occurrences in 2 Maccabees (6:20 and 9:21), which is part of the Deuterocanonical. b. Several significant occurrences in 3 and 4 Maccabees (3 Maccabees 5:32; 4 Maccabees 14:13-14,17; 15:6,9,13), which have not been accepted into any Scriptural canon. 3. Two occurrences of astorgos of in the New Testament: a. “Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful” (Romans 1:31) (KJV). b. “In the last days . men shall be . without natural affection . .” (II Timothy 3:1– 3)(KJV). 4. Solomon’s chain of inference in 1 Kings 3:16-28. B. Speeches of Cicero 1. “Love of one’s own family, sui, says Cicero, is demanded by common humanity: we naturally hold them dear, cari, and find them agreeable, iucundi . In general, the relationship most often exploited in the speeches is that between parent and child.” Treggiari, Susan. Putting the family across: Cicero on natural affection. na, 2005 at 16. 2. “Cicero argues that the instinct of a father to love his son is so strong that only serious faults would cause him ‘to manage to conquer nature herself, to cast out from his heart that deeply rooted love, to forget that he is a father.’” Treggiari at 21.
    [Show full text]
  • Love Beyond Affection but Is This an Adequate Description of Love? Love Cannot Be Reduced to an Ephemeral Emotion
    Love beyond affection But is this an adequate description of love? Love cannot be reduced to an ephemeral emotion. True, It isn’t very long after the sun sets on December 25 it engages our affectivity, but in order to open it to that merchants begin to roll out the Valentine’s Day the beloved and thus to blaze a trail leading away boxes of candy and the heart-shaped greeting cards from self-centeredness and towards another waxing eloquent about love. For those of us intent person, in order to build a lasting relationship; love on celebrating a full Christmas Season, it is a little aims at union with the beloved. Here we begin to bit annoying. see how love requires truth. Only to the extent that love is grounded in truth can it endure over time, The Daily Masses of those few weeks of the can it transcend the passing moment and be Christmas Season, from which we just emerged, sufficiently solid to sustain a shared journey. If love included a series of readings from the First Letter of is not tied to truth, it falls prey to fickle emotions John. It is in that letter that love is predicated of and cannot stand the test of time. True love, on the God in a most absolute way: “God is Love.” From other hand, unifies all the elements of our person this, the evangelist launches on an extended and becomes a new light pointing the way to a great reflection of love as the essential character of and fulfilled life.
    [Show full text]
  • About Emotions There Are 8 Primary Emotions. You Are Born with These
    About Emotions There are 8 primary emotions. You are born with these emotions wired into your brain. That wiring causes your body to react in certain ways and for you to have certain urges when the emotion arises. Here is a list of primary emotions: Eight Primary Emotions Anger: fury, outrage, wrath, irritability, hostility, resentment and violence. Sadness: grief, sorrow, gloom, melancholy, despair, loneliness, and depression. Fear: anxiety, apprehension, nervousness, dread, fright, and panic. Joy: enjoyment, happiness, relief, bliss, delight, pride, thrill, and ecstasy. Interest: acceptance, friendliness, trust, kindness, affection, love, and devotion. Surprise: shock, astonishment, amazement, astound, and wonder. Disgust: contempt, disdain, scorn, aversion, distaste, and revulsion. Shame: guilt, embarrassment, chagrin, remorse, regret, and contrition. All other emotions are made up by combining these basic 8 emotions. Sometimes we have secondary emotions, an emotional reaction to an emotion. We learn these. Some examples of these are: o Feeling shame when you get angry. o Feeling angry when you have a shame response (e.g., hurt feelings). o Feeling fear when you get angry (maybe you’ve been punished for anger). There are many more. These are NOT wired into our bodies and brains, but are learned from our families, our culture, and others. When you have a secondary emotion, the key is to figure out what the primary emotion, the feeling at the root of your reaction is, so that you can take an action that is most helpful. .
    [Show full text]
  • A Study of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Newspapers and Military Blogs a Thesis Presented to the Faculty
    Tell It if You Can: A Study of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Newspapers and Military Blogs A thesis presented to The faculty of the Scripps College of Communication of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Science Lu Wu May 2013 © 2013 Lu Wu. All Rights Reserved. This thesis titled Tell It if You Can: A Study of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Newspapers and Military Blogs by LU WU has been approved for the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism and the Scripps College of Communication by Ellen J. Gerl Associate Professor of Journalism Scott Titsworth Dean, Scripps College of Communication ii ABSTRACT WU, LU, M.S., May 2013, Journalism Tell It if You Can: A Study of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Newspapers and Military Blogs Director of Thesis: Ellen J. Gerl This study investigates the differences in the delineation of post-traumatic stress disorder in newspapers and in military blogs. Through thematic analysis of selected newspaper articles and blog posts, the research examines the different categories and themes that exist in newspapers’ and weblogs’ coverage of PTSD among military members and veterans. Marked differences are found among newspaper and blogs. It further discusses the function of both media in the PTSD “imagined community.” The content of newspaper articles is focused on the overall picture of PTSD in the military society, but overlooks the individual struggles. In addition, newspaper coverage tends to frame PTSD negatively. The blog contents are more personalized and emotion-driven, providing details of daily life and experience, but could not compete with newspapers on quality journalism.
    [Show full text]
  • MISPREDICTING the CONSEQUENCES of HONEST COMMUNICATION Emma Levinea & T
    YOU CAN HANDLE THE TRUTH 1 YOU CAN HANDLE THE TRUTH: MISPREDICTING THE CONSEQUENCES OF HONEST COMMUNICATION Emma Levinea & Taya R. Cohenb aThe University of Chicago bCarnegie Mellon University ***Forthcoming at the Journal of Experiment Psychology: General*** © 2018, American Psychological Association. This paper is not the copy of record and may not exactly replicate the final, authoritative version of the article. Please do not copy or cite without authors permission This research is based on a chapter of the first author’s dissertation. We are grateful for feedback and advice from Maurice Schweitzer, Katherine Milkman, Andrew Carton, Adam Grant, and Li Jiang, as well as research assistance from Soaham Bharti, Lucy Huang, Adam Picker, Barbara Toizer, and Emory Richardson. Studies were conducted at the University of Pennsylvania (the first author’s former institution), the University of Chicago, and Carnegie Mellon University. We are grateful for financial support and resources provided by the William S. Fishman Faculty Research Fund at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, The Wharton Behavioral Lab, the Center for Behavioral and Decision Research at Carnegie Mellon University, and a Russell Sage Foundation Behavioral Economics small grant. This research was presented at the 2017 Academy of Management Annual Conference and the 2017 International Association of Conflict Management Annual Conference. Address correspondence to Emma Levine, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, 5807 S Woodlawn Ave, Chicago, IL 60637. Email: [email protected], Phone: 773-834-2861. Total word count: 21,866 YOU CAN HANDLE THE TRUTH 2 YOU CAN HANDLE THE TRUTH: MISPREDICTING THE CONSEQUENCES OF HONEST COMMUNICATION ABSTRACT People highly value the moral principle of honesty, and yet, they frequently avoid being honest with others.
    [Show full text]
  • The Empathy Connection
    The Empathy Connection Creating Caring Communities through the Human-Animal Relationship The Doris Day Animal Foundation (DDAF) is a national nonprofit organization working to create caring communities. Thanks to a generous grant from the Claire Giannini Fund, we are pleased to present “The Empathy Connection,” a publication designed to help parents, teachers, and other adults instill the important skill of empathy in our youth. As a mother of two school-age children, president of the parent teacher’s association of a middle school, and as the Executive Director of the Doris Day Animal Foundation, I know how important empathy is in children’s development. Empathy is an important skill, related to success in many areas of development—social, academic, and personal. Learning how to respond empathetically is also the best antidote to violence, bullying, and other unwanted, aggressive behavior in children. The basic tenet of DDAF’s “creating caring communities” mission is that the protection of, and respect for, animals is closely linked to human welfare. The development of empathy is a case in point: one of the best—and probably one of the most enjoyable—ways to teach children empathy is through the human-animal relationship. The Doris Day Animal Foundation offers training workshops and materials designed to help professional and lay communities address the problem of violence and promote positive development in children, families, and communities. We do this by demonstrating how paying attention to the animal-human welfare link builds safer, more creative communities for all living creatures. We hope you will let us know how you used “The Empathy Connection,” or other DDAF materials.
    [Show full text]
  • LNCS 4740, Pp
    Application and Research on Affection Model BasedonBayesianNetwork Lin Shi, Zhiliang Wang, and Zhigang Li 1 P.O. BOX 135, University of Science and Technology, Beijing 100083, China 2 Computer Center, Tangshan College, Tangshan, Hebei 063000, China {pattiesl,lzghello}@126.com, [email protected] Abstract. It needs not only intelligence but also emotion for the com- puter to realize harmonious human computer interaction, which is one of the research focuses in the field of computer science. This paper proposes a hierarchical approach to represent personality, affection and emotion, using Bayesian Network to affection model and show emotion via vir- tual human’s facial expression. The affection model was applied to an affective HCI system, proved to be simple, effective and stable. 1 Hierarchical Model of the Virtual Human 1.1 Instruction of the Hierarchical Model We construct a hierarchical model: The Personality-affection-emotion model. Based on OCEAN model in psychology field, We classify human’s personality into five dimensions:[1] Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeable- ness, and Neuroticism; each factor corresponds to one dimension in the per- sonality space[2], and each dimension is closely-related with facial expression and affection representation. We classify affection into positive and negative [3] adopting the most popular classification of basic emotions: happiness, surprise, fear, sadness, disgust, and anger, in addition, we add a neutral emotion. Corre- sponding to emotions, we use Ekman’s theory, six basic facial expressions[4][5][6] and another neutral facial expression. 1.2 Extension of the AIML Tag We take the chatting robot ALICE as our virtual human, which is based on AIML (Artificial Intelligence Markup Language) Technology.
    [Show full text]
  • Thinking Pigs: Cognition, Emotion, and Personality
    WellBeing International WBI Studies Repository 2016 Thinking Pigs: Cognition, Emotion, and Personality Lori Marino The Kimmela Center for Animal Advocacy Christina M. Colvin Emory University Follow this and additional works at: https://www.wellbeingintlstudiesrepository.org/mammal Part of the Animals Commons, Animal Studies Commons, and the Zoology Commons Recommended Citation Marino, Lori and Colvin, Christina M., "Thinking Pigs: Cognition, Emotion, and Personality" (2016). Mammalogy Collection. 1. https://www.wellbeingintlstudiesrepository.org/mammal/1 This material is brought to you for free and open access by WellBeing International. It has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator of the WBI Studies Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THINKING PIGS: Cognition, Emotion, and Personality © Farm Sanctuary AN EXPLORATION OF THE COGNITIVE COMPLEXITY OF SUS DOMESTICUS, THE DOMESTIC PIG By Lori Marino and Christina M. Colvin Based on: Marino L & Colvin CM (2015). Thinking pigs: A comparative review of cognition, emotion and personality in Sus domes- ticus. International Journal of Comparative Psychology, 28: uclapsych_ijcp_23859. Retrieved from: https://escholarship.org/uc/ item/8sx4s79c © Kimmela Center for Animal Advocacy Thinking Pigs: Cognition, Emotion, and Personality AN EXPLORATION OF THE COGNITIVE COMPLEXITY OF SUS DOMESTICUS, THE DOMESTIC PIG he pig of our imagination is the Tom Sawyer, the Scarlett O’Hara, the TABLE OF CONTENTS TFalstaff of the farm animal world: clever, charismatic, mischievous, and gluttonous. References to road hogs, going whole hog or hog wild, 3 A Pig’s World pigging out, and casting pearls before swine pepper our everyday language. In the Chinese zodiac and literature, the pig characterizes strong 4 Object Discrimination emotions, lack of restraint, and virility.
    [Show full text]
  • OPTIMISM and ITS EFFECT on ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS AMY KRISTINE DICKE, B.A., M.A. a DISSERTATION in PSYCHOLOGY Submitted to the G
    OPTIMISM AND ITS EFFECT ON ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS by AMY KRISTINE DICKE, B.A., M.A. A DISSERTATION IN PSYCHOLOGY Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved ^ /^^ Accepted December, 1997 §61 /A {: 7^^^ optimism and Its Effect on Romantic Relationships Amy K. Dicke Texas Tech University Copyright 1997, Amy K. Dicke i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Dr. Clyde Hendrick, my dissertation committee chair, for the endless hours he put into reading several drafts of this manuscript. I would also like to thank David and Kathy Dicke, Tracy Wintroath, Tara Pittman, and Dr. Sue Thomas for their assistance in data collection. Without their help, the acquisition of 169 couples would not have been possible. 11 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT viii LIST OF TABLES x CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION 1 Optimism and Its Complexities 4 Pessimism and Depression 5 Defensive Pessimism 10 Unrealistic Optimism 12 Optimism and Health 15 Social Desirablity of Optimism 17 Heritability of Optimism 18 Subjective Well-being 19 Measuring Optimism and Related Constructs 22 Context of Romantic Relationships 25 Date Selection 25 Jealousy 28 Past Experience 31 Attachment 33 Personality Traits 37 111 Similarity of Partners 39 Satisfied and Troubled Relationships 41 Relationship Satisfaction 41 Measuring Relationship Satisfaction.... 44 Relationship Conflict 45 Conflict, Relationships, and Gender.... 48 Love 51 Lee's Typology of Love 51 Sternberg's Triangular Theory of Love.. 52 Optimism and Relationship Research 54 Why Optimism and Romantic Relationships?. 56 n. STUDY I: RATIONALE AND METHOD 58 Rationale 58 Method 63 Participants 63 Materials 64 Procedure 67 m.
    [Show full text]
  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
    City Health Information January 2003 The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Vol. 22 No. 1 POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER ental health problems, including post-traumatic • According to a survey conducted by the New York City stress disorder (PTSD), are the most pervasive Board of Education, 6 months after the September 11th public health problems to result from the attack, approximately 10.5% of NYC 4th–12th graders M th 6 September 11 attack. Although newspaper reports reported having symptoms consistent with PTSD — continue to describe worldwide sadness in response to the approximately 5 times the estimated national rate prior terrorist attacks of 2001, nowhere are the psychological to the September 11th attack.7 sequelae as great as in New York City (NYC) and its surrounding counties. The following factors increase the likelihood Most people exposed to a traumatic event experience of developing PTSD after a traumatic symptoms of distress immediately following the trauma. event:4,6,8,9 Recent epidemiologic studies conducted in and around • Being a young child NYC suggest that many will continue to suffer emotion- ally and may have impaired functioning. Physicians can • Being of female gender help to both identify and treat the disabling and costly • Lacking social supports consequences of the September 11th attack. This issue of City Health Information provides • Having a history of a psychiatric disorder current information on PTSD, a post-disaster mental • Having previously experienced a traumatic event health problem. PTSD is defined as an anxiety disorder in individuals who have been exposed to an • Experiencing a panic attack at the time of the extreme stressor that involved actual or threatened traumatic event death or serious injury.
    [Show full text]